Lell's Journey
by SilverDream1
Summary: Lell is of the age to go to the Summer Sea and has to grow up during her adventures there.
1. Illishar's Betrayal

Illishar's Betrayal

Princess Lell, sister to Aljan Moonbrow, Prince of the Unicorns, the Firebringer, galloped swiftly through the dappled light of the forest. Some distance behind her a bright green tersel, or male gryphon, chased after. Lell's amber mane and tail streaming behind her, she flew out of the forest and came upon the rim of the unicorns' Hallow Hills too quickly. Tumbling and rolling down the rim into the basin, laughing wildly, the five-year-old unicorn came to rest at the base of the hill that led up to the copse of trees and the Mirror of the Moon, the sacred healing pool of the unicorns. Following right down the hill behind her was the tercel, his green and silver feathers flashing in the early morning light. Bumping to a stop next to her, the tercel flapped his wings and lunged for Lell.

"Illishar!" she laughed. "How was I supposed to know you would be so stupid as to follow me down the hill?"

"I didn't see the rim until it was too late," the gryphon purred. "And besides, I would have had to get down the hill someway, wouldn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lell replied. Leaping up from where she was lying, Lell ran towards one wall of the large basin where a group of unicorns was gathering. Sunlight gleamed off Lell's darkamber and golden flecked coat, seeming to make her sparkle as she ran. 

Seeing her, two three-year-olds separated themselves from the group and launched themselves at their aunt. 

"Aunt Lell, Aunt Lell!" they cried. "We've been waiting for you."

Lell looked at the two young unicorns in surprise. The colt, Dhattar, was dancing excitedly, his pale-as-a-cloud coat shining. The filly, Aiony, was talking.

" . . . and Aljan has been waiting for an hour to . . ."

Lell marveled again at the strange markings Aiony possessed. One side of the young filly was silver with black stockings and a black-encircled eye, while the other was just the opposite: black with silver shanks and eye. She was still talking.

" . . . so Jan said 'As soon as you see Lell send her over and . . .' Aunt Lell? Aunt Lell are you listening?" Aiony reared up to meet Lell's gaze.

"Yes, of course I'm listening," she said hastily. "Well if he's been waiting what are we dawdling here for? Let's go."

"Oh yes, yes, we should go," Dhattar said eagerly.

Trotting over to the assembled herd, Lell wondered what they could be waiting for her to come for.

Jan glanced up as the three unicorns with the gryphon trailing reached the group. "There you are, I was beginning to think you weren't going, which you know is against the rules," he said.

"What? Going where?" Lell asked, confused.

"Going where? To the Summer Sea for the mating dance and pledge of course," Jan said. "You are five and ready for your first journey there."

Lell was shocked. She had completely forgotten that this was to be her first year to travel to the Summer Sea. "Of - of course," she stuttered.

Illishar walked up beside her and whispered, "You have to go, it is your duty to your herd and your future that makes you go. I must also leave, to go back where I came from to my flock."

"No!" Lell whispered. "Illishar, you can't leave me! What will I do, with everyone pledging their lives to their new mates and me alone while they're off frolicking together?"

"Lell, understand, you are growing up, you too will have a mate someday, maybe soon, and then you won't want a playmate like me. Go with your herd and be happy with your own kind."

"But I want to fly! I don't like my own kind, I want to be free and able to float on the wind!"

"Lell!" Illishar's tone was sharper now. "You are a unicorn. I am a gryphon. Unicorns run, gryphons fly. That is the way it is. You will not get your way by wanting and complaining, so live your life to the fullest with what you have been given. I saved you so you could do just that. Now don't make me sorry for almost killing myself to rescue you!" With that he flapped his wings, lifted off, and in a few seconds was just a speck on the horizon, flying toward the rising sun.

  
  
  
  



	2. Feathers

Feathers

  
  


Aljan led the group of unicorns up over the rim of the Hallow Hills out into the world. The herd first traveled into the Plains. Lell walked sedately behind the group, trying to hide her despair. She had argued and fought against going to the Summer Sea, and yet here she was, on her way. Not that she expected to find a mate. 

I will hide and escape from the group whenever I can, she thought to herself.

The herd was now traveling through the tall brown grass common to the Plains. Many of the other five-year-olds who had never been through the Plains shied at every stir in the grass or crunch of dry weeds, thinking they were pards, the big cats of the Plains. Lell was too depressed to care. She dragged her feet, kicking up dust into the hot, dry air. Finally, coughing from the dust, an older mare came back to Lell.

"Hey, what's wrong?" the mare asked.

"Nothing, except I don't want to go," Lell replied.

"Why? I am eight and have gone for three years and I still have no mate. It's really not that bad. My name's Senna by the way." She was a deep purple mare with a white mane and tail and a few tiny white dots on her haunches.

"What do you do the whole time you are there then?" Lell asked.

"I have danced and sung with the herd, stomping out the rhythm of the mating dance."

"But isn't it awfully boring when everyone starts pairing off?" Lell was curious.

"Not really. I like being alone."

Lell soon realized that this was the truth because Senna walked off only to return hours later as the herd bedded down by a stream for the night.

That night as she slept by the slowly trickling stream, Lell had a very vivid dream. In it she was standing by the stream at twilight, but it couldn't have been at the same point where they were right now, because there was a small stand of trees a few yards off the bank. The herd was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the trees moved as if a light breeze had blown through, but there was none. Lell was staring at the trees when a shadow stepped out of them. It was a young stallion, with a midnight blue coat, mane, and tail. White feathers lined with black were woven into the wavy mane that fell to his heavily muscled shoulder and the long wavy tail that fell past his hocks. 

Lell looked closer. Something was shining on his haunches. She gasped when she realized that they were tiny white dots, shimmering like stars, tracing a path along his haunches and over his back. They reminded her of Senna's spots. 

Something else she noticed about the stallion as she watched him walk to the stream and drink was that he was built differently than the unicorns of her herd. She knew he had to be a Renegade, a unicorn of the Plains, but the difference was striking. While the unicorns of her herd ranged from fine boned and light, like her, to big boned and heavy, like Jan and his mate Tek, this unicorn was neither. He was refined, with an arched neck and delicate legs, but heavily muscled from shoulders to haunches, rippling and glistening in the moonlight. Also, the unicorns in her herd had straight manes and tails, while his was incredibly wavy.

He lifted his head as he finished drinking and suddenly turned and looked straight at her, before galloping away into the trees, leaving her alone by the stream.

Lell had the distinct feeling that she had been hit by lightning, before all went black. 

  
  


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  
  


When she woke up it was dawn and the sun was just breaking over the horizon. Her herdmates surrounded her, giving her comfort as she remembered the strange dream from that night. Standing quietly so as not to rouse the other unicorns, she walked to the edge of the stream and looked at her reflection before drinking deeply.

She was startled to realize that she was sad that the blue unicorn had turned out to be just a dream. But as she walked back to where she had slept at the edge of the herd, she saw something lying on the ground where she had slept. She crept closer and saw that lying there was a beautiful white feather, lined with black. 


	3. Senna's Lie

Senna's Lie

  
  


Lell picked up the feather in her teeth and lay down. She worked it in her teeth for a while until she was able to get it braided into her mane. By that time many of the unicorns were stirring. Lell looked for Senna. She was lying on the other side of the herd, not sleeping but not yet resigned to getting up. Lell got up and walked over to her. Seeing her new friend, Senna stood up and shook herself. 

"How goes it?" Senna asked.

Lell, though, was wondering about the resemblance between Senna and the blue stallion, and didn't answer. Instead she just looked at Senna and realized that she was very similar in build to the stallion as well. The only things that differed between them, in fact, were their coat color, and the fact that Senna's mane and tail were straight.

Senna tried again. "How are you?"

Lell was lost in thought, but her head snapped up at the question. "Oh, I'm good, you?"

"Wonderful." Senna replied.

"Senna?" Lell asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any Renegade relatives?"

It was Senna's head that jerked up this time, her crystal horn almost hitting Lell. "No." she replied, and walked off into the tall Plains grass.

Lell started to follow then changed her mind. Instead she walked to where the unicorns were gathering around Jan. Once everyone was up and had drunk from the stream Jan started to talk.

"The Summer Sea is two more days from here. If we keep up a good pace we will be there by sundown on our third day of travel," Jan proclaimed. Tek, his mate, stood beside him.

Lell felt a sudden sharp pain go through her when she saw them together, and thought once again of the blue stallion. A wave of longing that she didn't understand swept through her and she almost broke down. 

A high-pitched scream split the air. The unicorns wheeled about. Not seeing anything but the tall brown grasses of the Plains, they stood confused. The group herd another scream, coming off from their left. Cantering in the direction it came from, Jan and Tek led the herd. The grass parted and the herd came to a halt, aghast. Five pards were tearing into the carcass of Senna. She was already dead. Lell screamed with a few others, echoing Senna's own screams from seconds before.

But Lell's herd was not the only one aroused by the screams. Charging at the clearing from the opposite direction was a huge herd of Renegades. And at the heart of that herd was the blue stallion, screaming, "Senna!!!"


	4. Depression

Depression

Both herds knew it was too late. The purple mare's carcass was already torn to pieces. All the unicorns turned away except Lell and the blue stallion. He noticed her for the first time. She looked up at him and saw the recognition in his eyes. The stallion looked back at the pards and trumpeted a warning. When they ignored him he prepared to charge, but one of his herd members came and muscled him back and pushed him away. 

It was then that Lell noticed that he wasn't full grown, probably her own age. She met his eyes once more, his pleading for her to do the impossible and rescue Senna. She looked away, worried of what was between the older mare and the blue stallion, and when she looked back he was staring at the feather entwined in her mane.

  
  


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  
  


Lell was miserable the rest of the day. The others were upset but not as much as she. Her golden mane and hooves were dull and her coat dusty. Her head drooped and her feet dragged. There was no Senna to come back and cheer her up, and no Senna to talk to. None of the other unicorns made an attempt, most already back to chattering happily amongst themselves.

That night they bedded down by the same stream, only this time off in the distance further down stream was a small stand of trees, exactly the same as from Lell's dream. Normally Lell would have noticed and been intrigued, but this time she was too depressed to care.

Lying down heavily on the ground on the extreme fringes of the herd she tried to sleep. Jan came over. He lay down near her, Tek beside him.

"Little sister, I know it was hard on you today, losing your friend," he said. "But things like this happen, you have to move on. In another day we will be at the Summer Sea, and you will probably have a mate."

Lell tried to disagree but Jan hushed her with a look.

"As I said, in another day you will probably have a mate, or a young stallion chasing after you. Try to forget what happened with Senna and rest. Besides, this is what comes of being alone." Jan and Tek stood and walked back into the center of the herd.

It took Lell a moment to comprehend what he meant. Then, when she did, she got angry. How dare he say that Senna brought it upon herself because she was solitary! Lell thought. 

Soon after she fell into a troubled sleep. In her dreams something was calling her. She tried to follow but she seemed to be in a mind-boggling white mist. She tried to move her legs but they were frozen. She tried to call out but couldn't speak. She awoke sweating. Standing up, she walked to the stream and drank deeply, barely glancing at the sleeping forms around her, not caring if she woke them up.

Lell knew she would not be able to sleep again that night, at least not now. She noticed the trees now, and started toward them. She was almost there when something stirred in the copse. Not a breeze, not even anything real, it was more like something stirring in her mind, something like recognition. 

The blue stallion slowly stepped out of the trees and stopped upon seeing her. He whickered to her. "Hello."


	5. Meeting Cimarron

Meeting Cimarron

  
  


"Hello." Lell said. "How did you know Senna?"

"She was my sister," he replied.

Lell gazed at him in shock. "But she was . . . of the Ring!"

"And? So am I," he said.

"How is it possible? Unless you left the Ring? Then you are to be an outcast."

"No, not an outcast. My mother was of the Ring. So was my father. When my mother had Senna she didn't have another foal for three years . . ."

Lell smiled to herself, she had been right about his age.

". . . and then she had me and"-

"What's your name?" Lell asked.

"Cimarron. Anyway, my mother took me and left the Ring but my sister stayed. I do not know what became of my father. So I really am of the Ring and did not leave of my own accord, so therefore can it be held against me?" 

Lell could tell he was going to win this argument. 

"So what's your name, since you know so much about me?" he asked.

"Lell."

"And why are you and your unicorns out traveling, little Lell?" 

"I'm as old as you are."

"Of that I have no doubt, I just like the way it sounds, would you prefer lovely Lell?"

"No more lovely than any of the unicorns in our group, probably not even equal to most of them. Our group is going to the Summer Sea," she said.

"Oh, mating time is it?" he sounded down.

"Yes." Lell wanted to get off the subject. She didn't want to discuss this with him.

"Are you and a stallion planning to be bound by the Pledge?" he asked.

"Oh, no! Of course not, no one likes me anyway." She was really uncomfortable now and she didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"I just wanted to make sure it was okay for me to talk to you and some stallion wasn't about to charge out of the woods and kill me, thinking I was stealing you from him."

Lell breathed a sigh of relief.

"Actually, though, there is something I'm curious about." he said.

"And what is that?" she inquired.

"Your coloring. It's not natural, is it?"

Lell looked at her coat, darkamber flecked with gold and gold patches here and there. Her mane and tail were light with gold streaks and she had gold hooves and a gold horn. "When I was three our Prince, Aljan Moonbrow, the Firebringer, my brother, helped us return from the Vale to our Hallow Hills. In doing so, his mate, Tek, and he had to drive out the evil wyrms, the wyverns, from their tunnels in our lovely Hills. My friend the gryphon tercel, Illishar, and I were badly burned and he carried me to safety, we dropped from the sky as a burning ball of flame, or so I am told, and we landed in the sacred Mirror of the Moon, a pond with healing powers among others."

Cimarron looked shocked, though about what she didn't know.

"What?" she asked, her sweet voice pulling him from his trance.

"You're a princess. I shouldn't be talking to you. I - I could get in huge trouble. We aren't supposed to talk to any of the unicorns of the Ring especially not Royals." Cimarron was almost shaking in fear.

"Cimarron, stop it. Please." Lell pleaded. "You are of the Ring, you're not a Renegade, the rules don't apply."

He started backing away from her.

"Cimarron." Lell was almost whimpering. She had known this stallion for less than an hour and already she liked him, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself. "Cimarron, please, wait, don't go!"

But he had already disappeared into the stand of trees.


	6. The Pool

The Pool

  
  


Lell flopped down where she was by the trees and fell asleep.

In the morning the other unicorns went for her but she refused to get up. In the end it took Aljan's threatening to make her move.

Walking as slowly as she dared, Lell looked back for one more glimpse of the small stand of trees and saw Cimarron there. As soon as she saw him she turned her back on him, as he had turned his back on her. 

When the herd was an hour from the Summer Sea they entered a forest. After thirty minutes of walking around trees they reached the other side. The view was beautiful, even Lell noticed. the setting sun turning the beach to golden. Orange and yellow and white waves pounded the shore, reflecting the sun's glow. Every golden hair on Lell's body was radiating with light. 

She couldn't help it, she looked back, and there he was, hiding from her in the shadows of the forest. Looking determinedly away, she saw the other unicorns walking down to the beach to prepare for sleep. She walked to the very end of the beach, so far from the other unicorns that they were specks in the distance. She lay down and turned her head to look at the white feather glowing in her mane. In a moment of frustration she grabbed the feather, ripped it out of her mane, and shredded it. Leaping up, she moved a few feet away from the shredded feather and collapsed, crying her heart out on the beach.

Soft foot falls alerted her to someone's presence, but she was too upset to care. A heavy form gracefully lowered behind her and suddenly there was a large warmth at her back. Cimarron lay his neck over hers, encouraging her to put her head down and sleep.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have turned on you, I just . . . it was too much to bear at once. I'm so sorry."

Lell was still crying but she quieted and slowly drifted off to sleep.

  
  


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  
  


In the morning Lell awoke to a brilliant sunrise, but no Cimarron. Was last night a dream? she wondered to herself. Then she caught sight of her mane. Braided in tightly was a new white feather, glowing against the gold and amber of her mane. If he left the feather for me to remember him by, then I don't want it, she thought. 

Standing up, Lell stretched her legs and wandered back down the beach. Almost all the unicorns were gone, all having paired off the night before. Even Jan and Tek were gone. A few young mares and stallions her age wandered about, not knowing what to do. None of them gave Lell a second glance. One stallion kept trying to catch the eye of a mare, to no avail. Another just frolicked about. The mares stood together talking. 

Lell walked to the edge of the forest, wondering whether to go in. She figured there was stuff happening in there that she didn't want to know about. 

Wandering down to the other end of the beach, she saw there was a small bay where the water was clear and the sand was white, even under the water. No plants grew in it and no fish swum there. Lell walked to the edge. She cautiously stuck a hoof in. Nothing happened. Feeling bolder she put another hoof in. The water was cool and felt lovely on the hot summer's day. Lell walked the rest of the way in, until the water was up to her chest. She stuck her head under and pulled it right back up, snorting and laughing. She walked out of the water and shook off, then worried about what to do. She was tired and she wanted to take a nap, but the sand would stick to her coat and make an awful mess. Looking around, she saw that someone had made a huge bed of seaweed on top of the sand. Lying down gently, Lell made sure her tail was on the seaweed and fell deeply asleep.

  
  



	7. Cimarron and Lell

Cimarron and Lell

  
  


When Lell awoke she felt refreshed and cool. Her coat was dry, and, thanks to the seaweed, clean. She lifted herself up of the bed of seaweed and looked around. The sun was high in the sky and Lell was hungry. She got a drink from the pool and was happy to discover it was clean and not salty. 

Cantering back along the beach alone, she thought again of Cimarron. Though she was sad that he had left her, she was surprised to find that she was not overly troubled. A few hours later, after exploring the rest of the beach, she was feeling lonely. All the unicorns were gone. She was the odd one out. 

In the woods birds sang and chirped, but on the beach it was deathly quiet. Even Lell's footfalls were muffled by the sand. A twig snapped somewhere in the woods, and the birds too became silent. Lell looked toward the woods. Cimarron stood watching her run, and as she changed her course to run towards him, he started to move too, until they were both galloping towards each other. She swept past and, laughing, came around again to join him on the beach. She rubbed her neck along his and chewed at his mane. He returned the favor and scratched her itchy withers. Turning, so they were both facing the ocean she said, "I was worried you weren't coming back."

"I know," he said. "I watched you all morning and made you the bed of seaweed so you could stay clean after you played in the water."

"Why didn't you just stay with me?" she asked. "I would have liked it more if you had been with me."

"I'm - I'm not ready to . . . commit yet." he said.

Lell leapt away from him. "Then get away from me!" she said, her eyes flashing. She galloped across the beach, her flight fast and frenzied.

Cimarron galloped after her and started to overtake her, but she had too much of a lead.

Galloping into the woods, Lell slowed to a canter, still going way too fast for a forest. She caught her hoof on a root and went sprawling into the center of a clearing.

Cimarron came trotting up to her and nuzzled her with his nose. "Calm down, Lell, you don't leave the Summer Sea for a few weeks. Give me time."

"Cim . . . I don't have friends, you know that. The closest I get to a friend is Jan, and he's my brother and a prince. I'm friends with you, and - and I love you. I won't be able to stand it if I'm alone forever." Lell was close to tears.

Cimarron started to back away.

"Cim, please, please don't leave me. I love you, don't leave." 

Cimarron froze, unsure whether to run away or to Lell, who was still on the ground. He chose Lell. 

Walking slowly at first and then trotting to her, he lowered himself to the ground and she lay flat against him, crying. She sucked it up and looked up at him, his regal head angled to look at her. 

"Lell, I'm sorry "-

"Stop it!" Lell yelled at him. He jerked away from her. "You keep saying you're sorry and then you do it again! Mean it for real when you are going to say sorry, and make sure you don't do it again!" With that she jumped up and ran back to the beach. 

Cimarron was angry this time. He chased after her and caught her, his anger making him fast. He leapt in front of her, knocking her to the ground. When she caught her breath he growled, "Do you think this is easy for me? I try to love you and apologize for my mistakes and you yell at me! I'm not perfect and that's why I'm not ready to commit to you"-

"I know you're not perfect! I don't care! Just stop leaving me! I told you I can't stand to be alone, so don't leave me, or at least let me know before you go away." Lell lowered her voice. "Cim, I get scared because I'm alone, do you want what happened to your sister to happen to me?"

Cimarron closed his eyes, trying not to remember his sister's awful death. 

"Cim? Cim, I know it's awful, but, look at me, I'm little. I need protection. If pards would attack a big mare like your sister, then I would make an easy target. I'm little Lell, remember?"

"Little lovely Lell, you could take on a thousand pards with that voice of yours but yes I remember." He rubbed his muzzle along her neck and down her back. She stood up. Walking slowly back to their end of the beach, they were content to gaze at the sunset in silence. 


	8. The Pledge

The Pledge

  
  


Cimarron and Lell fell asleep at their end of the beach . . . and woke up to the herd standing over them. 

"Lell." Aljan rumbled. "Who is this?"

"This is Cimarron, brother, and he is one of us, one of the Ring," she replied.

"Oh really? Then why does he run with the Renegades?" Jan asked warily.

"Because his mother runs or ran with them." 

"But then he is a Renegade, most definitely." The others were nodding.

"No! His mother and father were of the Ring, and his mother left while he was little and so he had to go! He is brother to Senna!" At the mention of Senna the herd hushed and stared at Cimarron. He was like nothing they had ever seen. Then recognition dawned on them as they saw the stars that spread over his back and haunches.

"He really is brother to Senna then, as we can all see from his markings. Cimarron, why do you keep your silence?" Jan asked.

"Because I had not been given the freedom to speak." Cimarron replied.

Lell smiled and some of the herd laughed as Jan was taken aback. 

"Well then Brother-of-Senna you are to rejoin the Ring now, are you not?" Jan asked.

Lell froze, fright consuming her. She and Cim had not discussed their future.

Cimarron turned his head and looked at her. He saw her anger at him when he had left her the first time. He saw her anger expand when he left her the second time on the beach. He loved her too much to see that anger and hurt expand any more.

"Of course I have come to rejoin the Ring." he said.

Lell breathed out a long sigh of relief and collapsed against him. He turned his head to where Lell's lay against his side.

"I'm okay," she whispered as he touched her nose with his own. She dropped her head and he lay his neck over hers once again.

The herd left them alone to sleep most of the day. That night, though, Aljan and Tek renewed their pledge of love to each other by the Summer Sea, and Cimarron and Lell were there to watch. Within a few days though, it was their turn.

After exchanging vows of love and a loving nuzzle, the pair was bound together by the Summer Sea to love each other and be faithful.

The next night was the mating dance and all the unicorns, young and old, danced their hearts out to the music of the ocean waves of the Summer Sea, with Lell and Cimarron the happiest of all. 


	9. Epilogue

Epilogue

  
  


On a beautiful morning nine months later, Lell went into labor. Cim ran to get the midwife and then lay outside their cave watching anxiously while his mate struggled inside. 

After an hour a beautiful grey-green filly lay on her side in the cave. Her mother urged her to get up, which she did after falling a few times. When the filly was finally nursing, Lell heaved a sigh as Cim walked in. He nuzzled his mate, who was very tired, and leaned against her to steady her trembling legs. 

"What should we name her?" Cim asked.

"Something for her coloring, no one is green." Lell replied.

"Algae? Ummm . . . Clover? Shamrock? Fern?" 

"I like Clover. Sounds sweet."

"Lovely Lell had sweet Clover."

"Don't joke about things like this."

"I wasn't joking, love."

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

"Okay, yes I was, I'm sorry."

"Quit it! You're always sorry and"-

"Hush. You'll disturb Clover."

"Okay, I love you."

"As I will always love you." 


End file.
